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The Jungle Book: 3D Collector's Edition
[Blu-ray]
Blu-ray ALL - America - Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment Review written by and copyright: Noor Razzak (20th November 2016). |
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The Film
 If you've read my review of "The Jungle Book" (1967), you'll know that I look upon it as one of the true gems in the Disney library. It's a true classic in very sense of the word. The animation is memorable, the cast is impeccable, the music is timeless, and the sense of adventure and fun can't be matched as far as animated films from that era go. Recently, over the last several years Disney has been updating it's animated classics into live action features. "Alice in Wonderland" (2010) started the trend and earned a ton of money and a sequel, "Maleficent" (2014), "Cinderella" (2015), and upcoming "Beauty and the Beast" (2017) looking like a sure-fire hit. Disney plan on rebooting many more animated films in live action in the years to come, and "Jungle Book" was this years' entry. During its development it was one of two films based on Rudyard Kipling's book to get a big budget live action version, this - Jon Favreau's take on the story and one from Warner Brothers helmed by motion capture king Andy Serkis, which seems to have been delayed until 2018. Needless to say, Favreau's version came out and cleaned up at the box office, taking in almost $1 billion in worldwide box office, adding to Disney's already profitable year thanks to "Finding Dory", "Captain America: Civil War", "Zootopia", and "Star Wars: Episode VII - The Force Awakens" which are all listed, along with this film in the top 10 highest earning films of 2016... wow, good to be a Disney shareholder! "The Jungle Book", much like the book of the same name tells the tale of Mowgli (Neel Sethi), a man-cub forced to live in the jungle and be raised by wolves, he learns the way of the jungle and to live in peace with the animal inhabitants. But drought plagues the jungle, and the villainous tiger Shere Khan (Idris Elba) uses that as an excuse to go after the man-cub. He threatens Mowgli's life, and to keep him safe, the black panther Bagheera (Ben Kingsley) guides Mowgli to a human village where he will be safe. An adventure along the way ensues, and they encounter the hypnotic snake Kaa (Scarlett Johansson), a lazy honey-hungry singing bear, Baloo (Bill Murray) and a ruthless monkey king in King Louie (Christopher Walken). I originally saw this film in theaters, and found it mostly enjoyable, there are some flaws which I will get into later. First off, the cast. It goes without saying that they are near perfect. The choices made are nothing short of inspirational, Idris Elba is terrifying as Khan, he's imposing and intimidating and that's almost entirely achieved by his voice alone. Ben Kingsley is inspired as Bagheera, he exudes wisdom and strength - character traits that fit perfectly for the black panther of the jungle. Now the fun part, whomever was responsible for getting Bill Murray to sign on the dotted line should be given immerse praise, it's easily the BEST choice for Baloo, Murray embodies the blue singing bear, his rendition of "The Bare Necessities" easily trumps the original as does Christopher Walken's turn as Louie and his version of "I Wanna Be Like You" both of which are fantastic highlights of the film. Rounding out the spectacular voice cast are Lupita Nyong'o, Scarlett Johansson, Giancarlo Esposito, and the late Garry Shandling, all of whom deliver memorable turns. As far as the cast goes, it's the film's main lead, Mowgli that lets the whole thing down, perhaps it's unfair to say newcomer Neel Sethi was the weakest link, but the fact is he was and it may not be entirely his fault. I find most child actors don't have the range for complex roles, and Mowgli is a complex role that seems to go over Sethi's head for the most part. In saying that it must have been difficult to expect a standout performance from a newcomer that has little previous acting experience while acting on an almost entirely green screen stage to reference marks that will eventually end up as CGI talking animals. So there's some forgiveness there. The CGI was certainly overdone, but it's hard not to considering the content of the film, you're not going to shoot in an actual jungle? Especially with a new child actor... shooting the film on a green screen stage is the safer, most logistically reasonable method. The problem is you really need a boatload of money to make it look seamless, and while they certainly had a big budget, the digital effects wasn't always impeccable. There was sense of "fakeness" to whole film, from the jungle, and its atmosphere, to the animals onscreen. Perhaps it was rushed? I'm not sure but the entire film felt artificial when it should have been the opposite. The thing that this version of "The Jungle Book" gets right and gets it right incredibly well, is that it captures the original essence of the 1967 version, while giving it a darker edge as seen in Kiplings' original text. There's a sense of danger mixed in with the sense of wonder, adventure, and fun. For those reasons it's definitely worth checking out even tough at times it doesn't seem to know whether it wants to be a comedy or a dark adventure.
Video
The film is presented in a widescreen ratio of 1.78:1, presented in HD 1080p 24/fps using AVC MPEG-4 compression and is included in both a 2D presentation and a 3D version. For the purposes of this review I chose to view the film with its 3D presentation. This is the second Blu-ray release of the film, the first only included a 2D option. With the rise of Ultra 4K HD you don't see a lot of studios still supporting 3D. 3D TV sales are down to the point of no longer really existing anymore, but Disney hasn't released anything in 4K yet, they're still holding onto 3D. This film is perfect for 3D, the CG jungle features tons or detail, things fly out at you, from bugs to sparks from fire, to jumping and attacking animals. The 3D holds up fairly well. The colors are nice and rich, the blacks are solid, and there wasn't any flaws that I could find with the presentation. It was sharp, detailed, and works well in 3D.
Audio
Three audio tracks are included in English DTS-HD Master Audio 7.1 surround (48kHz/24-bit), as well as French Dolby Digital 5.1 surround, and Spanish Dolby Digital 5.1 surround. I viewed this film with its DTS-HD 7.1 track, the track is fantastically immersive. The dialogue is crystal clear, the depth and complexity of the track is mind-blowing. The surrounds are active with jungle atmosphere and environmental effects, directional effects, and incredible score with fun songs. The whole soundtrack is impressive. Optional subtitles are also included in English for the hearing impaired, French, and Spanish.
Extras
Disney has released this film as a "Collector's Edition" and packed in three discs, the first is the 3D version with no extras, the second disc features the 2D presentation with all the supplements, the third and final disc is a standard definition DVD version of the film. The extras included are an audio commentary, a documentary, seven featurettes, a collection of bonus trailers, and a digital copy version of the film. Below is a closer look at these supplements. DISC ONE: 3D BLU-RAY This first disc is a 3D version of the film only, there are no supplements on this disc. DISC TWO: BLU-RAY This second disc includes the 2D version of the film as well as the following supplements: First up is the feature-length audio commentary by director Jon Favreau. Favreau does a fairly decent job or maintaining your interest despite being the only participant on this track. He talks very passionately about the film, this was clearly a project he cared very deeply about and not just a paycheck movie. He delves into the design and look of the film, on being a departure from the animated film, and on working with the embarrassment of the riches that is the cast. "The Jungle Book Reimagined" is a documentary (1080p) which runs for 35 minutes 2 seconds, this feature takes a look at creating a new live action adventure and reimagining the world of Kipling for a modern audience. The film's director, producer, and visual effects supervisor discuss the development, design, and implementation of the film. "I Am Mowgli" is the first of several featurettes (1080p) which runs for 8 minutes 18 seconds, this clip takes a look at the casting of newcomer Neel Sethi and the challenge he faced bringing this character to life in an entirely green screen environment. "King Louie's Temple: Layer by Layer" is a featurette (1080p) which runs for 3 minutes 14 seconds, this short clip takes a look at the character and on Walken recording the classic song "I Wanna Be Like You". "The Bare Necessities: From the Jungle to the Bayou" is a featurette (1080p) which runs for 3 minutes 30 seconds, this takes a look at Murray's recording of "The Bare Necessities". "The Return of a Legend" is a featurette (1080p) which runs for 3 minutes 41 seconds, legendary songwriter Richard Sherman helps by collaborating on lyrics and music for the film. "The Jungle Effect" is a featurette (1080p) which runs for 3 minutes 20 seconds, this short clip takes a closer look at creating the visual effects for the film. "The Jungle Book Around the World" is a music clip (1080p) which runs for 1 minute 56 seconds, and presents the song "The Bare Necessities" in different languages. "Developing Kaa" is a featurette (1080p) which runs for 2 minutes 51 seconds, is an animatic reel that shows the development of the character Kaa. Bonus trailers (1080p) included on the disc are for: - "Star Wars: Rogue One" - "Beauty and the Beast" - "Disney Movie Rewards" promo DISC THREE: DVD This disc is a standard definition DVD copy of the film. Also included in the package is a code for a digital copy version of the film.
Packaging
Packaged in a 3-disc Blu-ray keep case, initial pressings include a cardboard clip-case with a 3D lenticular cover.
Overall
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